


Hitchhikers Guide to Running Away

by PjCole



Category: Youtube RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Road Trips, Slow Burn, Stargazing, hitchhiker!jack, pre-youtube AU, the zoo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-19 02:33:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7341061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PjCole/pseuds/PjCole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The best way to make lasting friendships is to pick someone up off the side of the road and make bad video game jokes at them until they like you. Oh and maybe travel across North America together. </p><p>----</p><p>“You just tripped and accidently hitchhiked?” </p><p>“Well, sort of. But, let’s not get into that. You have to be at least friend level 5 to unlock my tragic backstory.” </p><p>Mark snorted. “Oh really? What level am I now then?”</p><p>“Acquaintance level four.” Jack answered immediately, like it was somehow obvious where Mark would fall on the other man’s mental scoreboard he’d only made up just now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Acquaintence Level 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Running away isn't going to fix anything." He told himself, biting hard on his bottom lip. It wasn't very convincing.

"You're an idiot."

Those words repeated over and over in a voice that may have been his own, as Mark rode the ass of a Walmart semi going 10 mph trying to pass a camper going 9. It wasn't being trapped on a two lane highway going fast enough to get absolutely nowhere that brought on this realization. He'd been saying those words to himself long before these trucks decided to have the world's slowest drag race.

And yet, he stayed in the left lane, ignoring the sign for an exit 2 miles down. Maybe he was just hoping he'd pass the camper (whose campsite seemed to be this very highway) before it was time to merge over. Maybe he really would get off on this one, like he'd told himself he would at the past 15 exits. Or more than likely, he wouldn't do anything. 

By the time the two vehicles had worked out who was going to be in front, Mark had moved on to calling himself a moron. He should be back home filling out applications to jobs he didn't want and going on blind dates with girls he didn't like. He should be sorting out the rent situation with the new roommate he wanted to punch in the groin and arranging all the stuff he didn't need into a room that felt like a prison cell. He should be using his savings to get by until getting-by killed him. He shouldn't be two hours outside Cincinnati yelling at himself in a car bound for anywhere and nowhere at all.

"Running away isn't going to fix anything." He told himself, biting hard on his bottom lip. It wasn't very convincing.

x-x-x

Fifteen minutes outside Toledo, he met Jack.

Mark had accepted that he'd most likely end up crashing at a motel somewhere in Michigan before heading back home first thing in the morning. He'd probably be able to convince his roommate that his note was just a joke. Or at the very least that he'd just needed to get out for a bit and didn't mean to call the guy a dickwad. With a little finagling he might get Goodwill to give him those boxes of books back. It might even be possible to mend the relationship with his mom after their latest screaming into the phone party. He didn't particularly want to do any of that, but the novelty of an impromptu one man road trip wore off about 100 miles in.

More cars started appearing on the road along side him as fall colored farmland turned into suburbs and then slowly into city scape. Because of this he'd ended up trapped in the right hand lane, looking over his shoulder every few minutes to see if there was a break in the steady stream of rush hour commuters. The time between checks grew longer and longer until he'd let his focus shift from that to seeking through radio stations. For some strange reason they all seemed to be Christian talk shows or country music, so this pursuit wasn't any less frustrating. 

Once Mark had landed on a station happily lacking in angry pastors and dudes serenading green tractors he'd decided to playing a game of "what animal was that road kill?". Most of the animals turned out to be trash bags and shredded pieces of tire, but it was still fun to make up stories for how those things ended up on the shoulder of interstate 75. 

Sixteen trash piles, four tires and what was likely a lost house cat later, Mark noticed a person a half mile up the road standing with his arm stuck out towards the oncoming traffic. For a moment he just stared at the person, a bit shocked at seeing a real life hitch hiker. In the next moment he was pulling off onto the shoulder fifty or so feet from the guy (as he realized upon closer viewing). 

The window was rolled down and his head was out the window hollering at the kid before his higher brain function turned back on. 

"Headed North?" He asked, pointlessly as they were on the northbound side of the road and the man's thumb was turned out in the same direction traffic was flowing.

"Um, yeah. Are you?" The man cringed a second after saying it, seemingly coming to the same realization as Mark. He wore a large black hoodie over some very worn looking jeans and had an old newsboy hat pulled down low on his forehead. A stuffed to the brim backpack and neon green duffle rested at his legs. 

“Seems like it.” Mark said grinning at the guy. He wasn't sure why he wanted to comfort the other man or why he was picking him up at all. His only guess was his subconscious was just continuing the spontaneous ‘fuck it why not’ tone the day had taken already. With that he shrugged and nodded towards the passenger door. “Get in before someone notices my hazard lights aren't on.” 

The man hesitated, looking Mark over for just long enough to be unsettling, before grinning a hefting up his bags. “Thanks!” 

For a second Mark had the urge to lock his door and drive off, but it passed just as the guy opened the back door and dumped his things. As he opened the front door, Mark noticed just how small the guy was. He likely wasn't too much shorter than Mark, but he was rail thin. Mark almost felt bad for not helping the kid with his bags. 

Although Mark could see some grey patches of hair poking out from under the hat, he couldn't really believe this kid was more the 18. He still had some child like roundness to his face and a specific sort of energy Mark couldn't believe anyone past high school could feel. He couldn't help but wonder what this kid was doing getting into his car. 

“Thanks man, really. I'd been waiting out there for over an hour. I'd mostly been hopin’ some tucker’d take pity on me.” The kid said with a bright grin. 

Mark startled a little bit at the Irish accent, but was mostly caught up in the sheer light in the kids grin. It was far too late in the day to be that full of energy. He quickly looked away, using an attempt to get back into the traffic flow as an excuse. “Don't worry about it, I don't really have anything much better to do.” 

A beet of awkward silence filled the car and Mark felt a little bad about how that comment might have come across. “I'm Mark by the way.” He decided a topic change would be easier than trying to apologize for a possibly rude comment made at a complete stranger. At least this way he could stop calling the poor guy some variation of “the kid” in his head. 

“Jack.” He answered with another sunshine bright smile. “How far north are you goin’?” 

“Probably Michigan somewhere.” Mark had luckily made it into the middle lane and decided that was good enough for now. He adjusted in his seat, settling down comfortably with one hand on the wheel and the other resting in his lap. 

“You don't have any particular destination?” Jack looked at him with an eyebrow raised like Mark was somehow the oddity here. 

“Nope. Do you have one?” With a smirk Mark looked over at his passenger, assuming Jack probably didn't have a better plan either. 

“Touche!” Mark mentally cheered at being right. “This is just the first highway I picked, figured the Great Lakes might be cool to see.” Jack shrugged and leaned back comfortably in his seat. 

“It'd probably be a decent time of year, just a bit before it's too cold to be next to water.” Jack nodded at this a turned to look out the window. They sat in silence for a few miles, Mark a little unsure of the etiquette in this situation. The radio blasted out a couple pop songs before curiosity got the better of him. “Are you just hitchhiking for fun? Some post high school adventure?” 

“I guess, but it’s more like it's just what I've been doing for 2 years now. So why stop?” Jack seemed fixated on the passing billboards for a moment as Mark tried to process the information. His tone made the air in the car seem stale and dusty. After a beat Jack rubbed the back on his neck, the energy from before fading around the edges.“And I guess it was technically after high school, but it was more post-failed-college-attempt than anythin’ else.” 

“Wait how old are you?!” Mark cut in, turning to stare at Jack with wide eyes. The tension cut and a laugh bubbled out of Jack. He sighed in a way that said this question was nothing new for him. 

“21” 

“What? Are you sure?” Mark asked, multitasking between watching the road and staring incredulously at Jack. 

“What do you mean, am I sure?” Jack was holding his stomach laughing at Mark in a way that should have been rude, but just made Mark laugh along. “I'm pretty sure I’m aware a’ how long I've been alive! Maybe I'm confused though, no one can really know for sure.”

“Come on, give me a break! I've been driving for 3 hours!” Mark wiped his eyes, his shoulders still shaking with laughter. “I just meant you look younger than that.” 

“Maybe I should grow a beard.” Jack rubbed his chin with a frown, going a little cross eyed to look at it. 

Mark let his laugh mellow out to a few chuckles and cracked his neck. He looked in the rear view mirror and saw an opportunity to move over another lane. Taking it, he looked back at Jack who was still rubbing his chin, but now looking out the window.

“Are you sure you could grow one?”

“Wow, rude!” A hand went to Jack's chest. “And here I thought you were one of the better people to pick me up. Now you’re even lower the Shelly.” Jack said with a grin.

“Shelly? What’d she do to you?” Mark somehow made it into the carpool lane and settled back with the cruise control set. 

“Spent two hours simultaneously trying to convert me to Wiccan and selling $400 dollars worth of weed to me.” Jack grimaced at the memory. “Plus her dreadlocks smelt like some large rodent died in them”

“Good lord. And I’m worse than that?” Mark gave the irishman his signature puppy dog pout, complete with sniffle and lip trembling.

“I guess you’re a little bit better.” Jack replied with an exasperated shrug. 

“Thank you. As long as I’m one step up from drug dealer with dead rat hair.” They both laughed at that. Mark couldn’t remember the last time he felt this light hearted, let alone the last time he got on this well with someone new.

“Did you buy any?”

“Any what?”

“Weed.” Jack seemed to think about the answer for a moment, before nodding and laughing like he’d just been caught sneaking a cooking from the jar. 

“Yeah, but only like a little bit of it. I don’t usually travel with 400 cash in my back pocket.” Jack turned to face Mark. “So you won’t get much if you were planning on taking me out on some dirt road to kill or mug me.”

“Oh darn, you foiled my grand plot.” Mark shook his head. “I usually just drive around Toledo on Tuesday afternoons, looking for hitchhikers I can kill and sell their kidneys for drug money.”

“Hey you never know! I took my mom seriously when she warned me about stranger danger!” Jack waved his finger at Mark, before pulling his hat down further on his head with mock sternness. 

“And yet here you are, apparently spending two years worth of time in stranger’s cars.” Mark waved his finger back. 

“Yeah, but it’s not like I did it on purpose.” Mark wasn’t really sure how they’d ended up in playful arguing, but he liked it. He wasn’t really a antagonistic type, but he liked pointing out flaws in a person's argument just as much as the next guy. It felt nice to use sarcasm with someone that actually seemed to get it, who played on the same level and with the same kind of humor Mark new like home. It seemed like most of the people he’d hung out with lately ran on a different wavelength or connected to a different server. He’d missed actually enjoying a conversation, actually feeling actively involved and listened too. It was like a game of ping pong, but one with professionals playing it and where the ball never went out of play. 

“You just tripped and accidently hitchhiked?” With a raised eyebrow Mark happily awaited the return on his serve. 

“Well, sort of. But, let’s not get into that. You have to be at least friend level 5 to unlock my tragic backstory.” 

Mark snorted. “Oh really? What level am I now then?”

“Acquaintance level four.” Jack answered immediately, like it was somehow obvious where Mark would fall on the other man’s mental scoreboard he’d only made up just now.

“Well, I guess I’ll take that. You should know though, you’re only level 3 Acquaintance with me. And my tragic backstory doesn’t unlock until level 7 friend. I’m a difficult companion, but I also unlock the most side quests.” Jack got closer and closer to hysterics as Mark went and was nearly doubled over in his seat by the time Mark finished. 

“Oh Lord. Your shit must be juicy.” Jack struggled to slow his breathing, coughing and doing half assed labor breathing to calm down. 

“That sounds disgusting.” Joining Jack in a second wind of laughter, Mark ended up straying a bit on the road. He ran over the rumble strip; the noise causing another eruption of laughter between the two. 

“Please stop making me laughing. My stomachs gonna tear in two at this rate.” Jack sighed heavily, finally gaining some control over the situation. 

“How else am I supposed to level up then?” Mark felt a little breathless, but in such a good way. 

“True, but if I die from suffocation all your hard work will be for nothing!” Jack insisted, smile brighter than Mark had yet to see it. He really hadn’t thought any more light could come off the guy, but here it was in all it’s blinding glory. 

“I see your point. I’ll try to turn off my hilarity, but I can’t make any promises. It’s as unfortunate a gift as my dashing good looks.” Running a hand down his jawline, Mark winked and blew a kiss at Jack. He in turn, just groaned and turned up the volume for a Panic! Song. 

x-x-x

Just as they were seeing signs for Ann Arbor, Mark spit his water on the steering wheel. Jack had been telling the story of number 3 in his top 5 worst rides. He’d decided to end the story of a pig farmer who forced him to eat a six day old egg salad sandwich with an abrupt and forlorn, “And then I had diarrhea for 3 days.” Mark really couldn’t say he was above finding poop jokes funny. 

“Gee thanks, now I get to drive wet.” Mark glared at Jack good naturedly. There really wasn't all that much water, but he’d found he liked Jack's reaction to possibly causing Mark trouble was too funny to pass up. 

“Sorry, Sorry. We could stop at Ann Arbor and find a gas station you could dry up at.” Jack looked a tiny bit like a puppy that’d just been scolded and Mark really shouldn’t have found it that endearing. 

“It’s fine.” He looked at the gas tank and noticed it was a bit past half empty and thought there really wouldn’t be any harm in topping off. Plus he hadn’t pissed in a good five hours. “Though, I guess a good leg stretch wouldn’t be bad.” Mark hit his blinker and merged to the right lane without issue. There had been about a third as many people on this road then on the 75, so it been rather smooth since they'd made it out of Toledo. 

They sat and listened to the radio as Mark pulled off onto the first Ann Arbor exit. The gas station was only a couple blocks off the highway, but the speed there was only 30 mph, so it felt like 2 years compared to the 80 Mark had been going a few seconds ago. 

He pulled up to an empty pump and got out. Once standing up, he realized he should probably immediately make his way to the restroom. 

“Hey Jack, here.” Mark pulled his wallet out and handed Jack his debit card. “Will you fill her up, I'm about three seconds from a bladder explosion.” He didn't wait for Jack's response, rushing towards the front door of the station before he even realized how shocked Jack's face had been. 

It wasn't until he was wrestling with a paper towel dispenser that the insanity of his action dawned on him. Sure, he'd spent the better part of an hour talking to the guy, but Jack was still just some dude he'd picked up off the side of the road. For all he knew his card was miles away by now, sitting in Jack's back pocket as he road out of town in the cab of some unsuspecting farmer’s pick up. 

Mark tried very hard not to hit himself while he bought a coke with the cash in his wallet. It'd felt so natural talking with Jack he'd all but forgotten they weren't old friends out on a road trip together. 

As he walked out of the shop and towards his car, a wave a guilt washed over him. There was Jack, sitting in the front seat with the door held open, drumming on the dash. Hell he even smiled when he noticed Mark walking over. Mark couldn't help but smile back. 

Jack got out of the seat as Mark reach the front of his blue Sonata. “Well, Mark thanks for a great ride.” 

“You're staying here?” Mark asked with maybe a bit too much shock in his voice. 

“Well, we've made it to somewhere in Michigan. And it still early enough for me to find a place to stay. The city seems big enough to have a few options.” Jack said with a shrug, basically no conviction in his voice. 

“Like where?” There was more bite in his tone than intended, but Jack either didn't notice or ignored it. 

“I'll find a starbucks or something and see if there's a couch surf place nearby, or maybe a motel with a coupon. If I get desperate, I'm sure there's a homeless shelter nearby.” Again a shrug, like this was an every day for him. Which Mark supposed it was. 

The thought of Jack lugging his duffle around town looking for someplace to sleep, gave Mark a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. He almost considered going back in the two stall bathroom to hurl. 

“You could stay with me.” He hadn't planned on that coming out, nor on it sounding so pathetic if it did. Jack gave him a look that said he might have just grown a second head.

“What?”

“Well I mean why not? You're already planning on crashing somewhere random, why not wait an hour or so and split a cheap motel with me. We could go see the Lakes tomorrow and just take a grand tour of Michigan or something.” Mark was speaking too fast and he knew it, there was no filter. Just him standing in a Shell station parking lot halfway to begging the first normal person he'd spoken to in weeks to not leave him alone. 

“Are you serious?” If Mark hadn't basically lost what tiny bit of sanity he had left, he'd think Jack almost sounded hopeful. 

“Look, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, but I know I can't go home yet. And I have a feeling you have one you're running from too. Why not just have no idea what the fuck were doing, together?” Mark smiled awkwardly, completely lost on why exactly he was doing this. “We got along good, you don't seem like a psycho killer and I promise I'll ask before I sell your kidney on the black market.” Jack snorted at this. “Jack, look. I know we don't really know each other. But I'd really rather drive aimlessly talking shit with you then listening to crappy radio stations until I go more insane than I already am.” 

Mark tried to adjust his smile into something less teenager on picture day, but probably didn't succeed. He just didn't want to say goodbye yet, which was crazy but true. He usually didn't make friends this fast. Jack was different and kind of awesome. Losing contact just didn't seem like an option. 

“Okay, but you have to give me enough XP points to level up to Acquaintance level 7.” Mark would probably never get use to that grin. 

“Dude, you hit that twenty minutes ago.”

Jack laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so awesome and thank you for reading. If you find any errors feel free to message me at my tumblr doublestuffedleoreos


	2. Driftwood sword fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Did we ever actually set any criteria?” 
> 
> “Did you not get the list I telepathically sent you when we started?” Mark asked.
> 
> “Oh sorry, my mental mailbox has been so full of spam lately it must have gotten lost."

That night they'd ended up crashing at Downtown Motel in Gaylord. For a wide variety of reasons. Mark would like to say it came down to the $45 dollar a night with free wifi or even that they'd hit the town a little after nine at night and just wanted off the road. 

The real reason of course was the way Jack had laughed at the exit sign for Gaylord. He'd told Mark that was one of the best town names he'd ever seen and he'd seen some crazy small town names. Mark hadn't taken the time to read the list of services at that stop before merging off the highway. 

He's sure the locals pronounced it some way that sounded a lot better than it read on paper, but he really couldn't believe at least one town official hadn't noticed it. Jack and he spent a good 10 minutes acting out various ways some old white man might have tried to bring that up at a townhall meeting. They drove a few blocks before decided they would stay there for the night and started looking for a hotel. Jack mumbling “Gay Lord” to himself like he really thought the whole day had been a strange fever dream. Luckily they found a motel with a open room and crashed there for the night. 

Mark had just gotten back from the free breakfast with two plates of mini muffins and overly ripe fruit. Jack was where he'd been when Mark left, passed out on his stomach snoring from under scratchy motel blankets. 

When they checked in, Mark had almost immediately crashed onto the bed closest to the window. Jack had laughed at him and called him an old man, before pulling his laptop out of his backpack and sitting crisscross on his own bed. Mark wasn't sure when Jack had fallen asleep, but he probably had been out long enough to be woken up. 

“Good morning! Good morning! Good morning! It's time to rise and shine!” Mark sang loudly as he sat the breakfast down on the side table between the two beds. “Good morning! Good morning! Good morning! It's time to greet the day!” Jack had sat up in a panic just after the second good morning, but had transitioned into glaring angrily and groaning at this point. 

“Brush your teeth and wash your head! Good morning! Good morning! Good morning!” Mark dodged the pillow Jack threw his way cackling.

“God fuckin’ lord. Why on earth would you wake me up like that! Are you trying to kill me?” Standing up, he tossed another pillow at Mark’s head when the larger man responded with only louder laughter. Jack was wearing some very cozy looking sweatpants and an old faded Slipknot t-shirt. His hair was longer on top than Mark had imagined, popping out in odd places and stuck to his forehead a bit. The word cute was practically in neon lights above his head.

“No grumpy, as much as your organs would sell for thousands, I've decided to keep you around a bit longer. But,” He picked up one of the plates and passed it to Jack. “I did bring you food. The coffee was empty though so I'll have to go check for some in a bit.” 

“You haven't had coffee and you're already awake enough to be this annoying.” The words were muffled around a muffin Jack was attempting to inhaled. “I hate morning people.” 

“I'm not a morning person! It’s already 9. Plus I use to work at like 7, so I think my body is just use to it.” Mark poked at his questionable looking banana as he sat down next to Jack on the bed. 

“Disgusting.”

“I know, but what do you expect from free motel breakfast.” The banana really didn't even taste too bad, it just looked awful. 

“Not the food, you and your blue collar job.” Jack seemed to be waking up the more food he ate, his energy radiation increasing bit by bit. 

“It wasn't too horrible. I mean I hated it.” A snort. “But! It paid the bills and let me have my own apartment. It was better then half the ones I've been applying too.” Mark grimaced at the memory. He'd almost been at the point of groveling to McDonald's. 

“That's why I refuse to get a real job. They all suck. I'd rather just do a bunch of weird random stuff I like for barely any money than work day in and day out at some cubicle for a few more bucks.” Jack had finished most of his plate, leaving a few soggy grapes behind. 

Mark nodded. “Well on that chipper note, I'm gonna go brush my teeth. We should check out soon. Lake Huron is really close and I figured we could spend a while there.” 

“Sure thing Boss.” Jack said with a salute. 

x-x-x

It took them about an hour to get out of the hotel, mostly since Jack took a shower and then spent 30 minutes on his laptop trying to find the best city to stop in and what route to take to it. 

The ended up on the 33 before transferring to the 23 and driving up along the shore line to Mackinaw City. 

“That sure is a lot of water.” Jack commented. Now normally, Mark would probably laugh at this, maybe make a few sarcastic comments. But the issue was, Jack had made this comment or some variation of it about 10 times now and Mark was one more away from killing him. 

“You sound like you’ve never seen water before. And I know that can’t be right because you took a shower long enough to fill 15 bathtubs this morning.” Mark could admit there was a bit of an awe factor to the glistening blue just a patch of land away from them. He himself hadn’t been to anything more than a stream in the past year. But that didn’t give Jack the right to literally run his driver up the wall. 

“Oh shut up, you’d be complaining if I hadn’t taken one.” Jack took a break from plastering his face and hands to the window and faced Mark. “It just been a long time since I’ve seen this much. I been sorta trapped in the midwest the past few years.”

“Never caught a ride to California or Virginia or something?” If Jack had been on the road for 2 years now, Mark really couldn’t believe he hadn’t ended up on one of the costs at some point. 

“Believe me I tried. But, usually I get dumped it some bumfuck nowhere town and get a ride going the direction I want just isn’t possible. If the way back where I came has more cars, I just go that way.” Jack explained with a sideways smile. Sometimes when Jack spoke a little more about the real aspects of his life a melancholy traced along the edge of his words. In the day Mark had known him, he’d only strayed from funny stories a couple times. Yet, each time a strange fear overcame Mark. It seemed almost like a deep pit hid just out of focus, beckoning for Mark to jump in. He changed the subject every time.

“Well, fine but please stop telling me just how much water there is. I can see fine myself, thank you.” A grin. “Anyways, I was thinking we could stop at a Costa Vida or something and pick up some food before finding a good beach to hang out at.”

“I’m good with that, but I get to pay this time.” Jack shushed Mark, just as the larger man tried to protest. “You wouldn’t let me give you cash for the room or dinner last night, so it’s fair. And that’s that.” Mark grumbled, but nodded anyways. Logically, Jack must have some money stashed somewhere. He wouldn't have lasted this long on the road without some kind of income or a ton of savings. That didn’t really stop Mark from wanting to pay for everything though. Jack’s clothing looked so worn and his hair looked like he’d trimmed it himself. He had the sort of lankiness that felt more like hunger than genetics. Paying for Mark’s food, just seemed a little out of the question.

“Fine, but I really don’t mind.” 

“I gathered that. You’re one of those bleeding heart nice guys.” Jack went back to staring out the window. Silence seemed comfortable to Jack, but Mark hated it. If they stopped talking Mark’s brain would start to think logically again. That would only lead to a spiral of ‘what the hell are you doing?’ or ‘you don’t even know this guy why the hell did you sleep in the same room with him last night you complete crazy person.’ And Mark didn’t need that right now. 

“So how many levels are there in the Acquaintance section?” 

“10, every section has 10.” Jack responded immediately, not bothering to turn away from the window this time. Mark couldn’t help but smile, glad that Jack so quickly jumped back on yesterday's dumb joke. 

“Are you saying, I’m only a 4/10! I thought I was at least a 6.” Pulling the visor down to look horrified into the little mirror behind it, Mark tried hard not to grin. “Am I really that ugly?”

“Yeah, you got a fat head. Maybe if you grew your hair out a little it wouldn’t be so bad.” Jack was looking at him now, rubbing his chin and squinting at Mark like he was a piece an art up for critique. 

“What?” The horror in his voice wasn’t totally faked. “I like this hair cut!” His hand flew up to mess with the tips of his choppy fauxhawk. He was trying to pull his eyes off of the mirror and back to the road when Jack’s cackling laugh filled the car. 

“Oh man, I was just messing with you!” Mark put away the visor and faced the road with a pout. “Come on, you’re very handsome!” A hand was on his shoulder, warm and bizarrely wonderful, but Mark just scrunched them up more and deepened the furrow in his brow. 

“Screw you, Jack.”

“Don’t pout you five year old!” Jack tried to sound scolding, but couldn’t stop laughing enough to bring any seriousness to it. 

“I’m not pouting.” Mark replied, pouting more. 

“Oh, that’s just your normal face is it?” 

“Yes, yes it is!” His shoulder scrunched up to his ears and his bottom lip pulled all they way down into something resembling a gargoyle frown. Turning to Jack he crossed his eyes and said, “My mama says I’m boo-tiful!”

Jack snorted so hard he felt some mucus dislodge from his sinuses. “You’re georges.”

“Gee, little ol’ me?” Mark face contorted into something attempting to be a smile and he turned back to the road batting with his hand in Jack’s direction. 

“Jesus, Mark you are a special individual.” Shaking his head, Jack leaned back in his seat. He sighed, before looking back at his companion. “If it makes you feel any better, I moved you up to level eight when you brought me food this morning.”

“It does. Thank you.” With a yawn, Mark leaned back in his seat. He kept smiling for the rest of the drive. 

x-x-x

They ended up picking burritos up from a food truck a few blocks from a free parking lot they found in Mackinaw. After, they spent a few hours walking the trail and shoreline along Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. In the last hour they’d collect about 15 different walking sticks, both trying to one up the other on each find. Once, Jack brought back what look like the remains an abandoned shovel and Mark fought him for a good ten minutes about whether or not that could be a contender. 

“I still think my shovel staff should have won. He looked so sad when we left him with that pine tree.” Jack kicked at some of the stones littering this stretch of beach, hands in the pockets of the jeans he wore yesterday. He’d pulled out an oversized green hoodie from his pack when they’d gotten out of the car and felt the chilly autumn breeze blowing off the lake, but had it rolled at the sleeves now. He’d made the mistake of trying to grab a branch out of the water and received frigid water stains on the edge of his sleeves for his trouble. They stayed rolled up after that, in hopes that he may find something to beat Mark’s current front runner, a five foot tall, two inch thick walking stick. 

“It wasn’t a stick. And this is a serious competition. We can’t let any old branch in, they have to meet all the criteria.” Mark drug his stick behind him with his right hand, tracing doodles in the sand. His left fiddled with the phone in his front jacket pocket. It had been going off sporadically for the past hour. More than likely his roommate had just came home to find the note he'd left him. 

He glanced over at Jack, who was frowning and trying to think of a rebuttal. For a moment Mark thought how much better it’d have been if Jack was his roommate. He might have actually been able to survive all the other shit if he'd had someone like Jack to stay up late talking with. 

“Did we ever actually set any criteria?” 

“Did you not get the list I telepathically sent you when we started?” Mark asked, pulling his stick up right to actually use it as intended.

“Oh sorry, my mental mailbox has been so full of spam lately it must have gotten lo-Ah!” Mark startled as Jack suddenly took off towards a point in the water a few feet up from them. When Mark noticed the dark shape just at the edge of the water he started laughing. 

“I bet that's just some shitty driftwood!” Mark yelled after him, not bothering to pick up his leisurely pace. 

“Says the guy who found his this way!” Calling back over his shoulder, Jack bent down to examine his find. A few moments later a triumphant yell echoed back to Mark. 

“Anything good?” Jack was making his way back to Mark now, what looked like the waterlogged remains of an old branch held over his head. 

“Take a look at this! It's way bigger than yours!” Sure enough when Jack stood the thing next to him it came in just a few inches above Marks head and was thick enough to have a few small twigs poking out of it every which way. Jack had started pulling off said twigs with some ease as the wood look like it had been soaking for a couple dozen years. 

“Sure, but look how soggy it is! That can't really be considered a walking stick.” Mark had been in the lead for the last 20 minutes and didn't feel like giving that up. 

“How about I hit you with it and you tell me if it is sturdy enough to hurt you?” Brandishing his weapon over his shoulder, Jack shot Mark a look that said he was ready to go anytime. 

“Woah, woah. No need to resort to violence. If it means that much to you, I'll let you win.” Mark replied, setting his own stick on the sand and putting his hands up placatingly. 

“You're not letting anyone win, I took this fair and square!” Jack pushed his chin up and squared his shoulders daring Mark to defy him. 

“Sure, whatever.” Jack rolled his eyes at that, but smiled shortly after so Mark supposed he was in the clear. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he sighed dejectedly at the time. How could three hours pass so quickly? Thinking about walking back just made him sigh again. 

“What’s wrong?” The words sounded unsure and timid, like somehow Jack thought he was overstepping by asking them. 

“Nothing, just it’s already almost four. And I realized we’re a good two hour walk from the car.”

“Really? I didn’t think we’d been out here that long!” Jack joined Mark in the sighing. “Oh man, this walks gonna suck.” Using the wet log, Jack started heading back towards the trail they took up to this side of the beach. Mark picked his own up and followed. 

The walk ended up taking nearly three hours due to a few sword fights they got into along the way, most occurring when Jack didn’t agree with Mark's stance on various food items. Jack had ended up ass up in a bush twice. While, Mark had disturbed a wild turkey and ended up climbing a tree and sitting in it terrified for a good twenty minutes listening to Jack howling with laughter. 

By the time they reached the car they were both worse for the wear and covered in enough leaves and grass to warrant a few stares. 

“Now that we’ve miraculously made it back to the car, I am starving.” Mark whined as they both collapsed on to the seats. 

“I second that!” 

“Okay, so do we just wanna drive around and hit the first fast food joint we see or?” Mark asked, still yet to turn the car on or adjust from his slumped position in the front seat. 

“Oh, weren’t there some grills up at the park a few blocks back that way?” Jack sat up, pointing in the general direction of said park. “We could hit a shop and pick up some charcoal and hot dogs! Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Do you ever feel any need to just sit and relax for a second?” The bubbling energy foaming of a Jack usually built Mark’s own energy up, but right now seeing the kid hopping in place and pointing out the window just exhausted him. They’d just went for a good six hour hike through sand and woods. Jack was physically impossible.

“We’ll be stuck sitting in this car all day tomorrow. Just enjoy being outside a bit would you?” Jack leaned over the middle consul to stare down at Mark, who was basically laying flat on his back in the next seat. For a second Mark counted the nose hairs he could see from this angle, but quickly shook out of it. 

“Why will we be in the car all day?” Looking up into Jack’s eyes was giving Mark a very strange shifting feeling in his stomach, so he decided to sit up. Jack pulled away just in time to miss a forehead collision. 

“Well, were you planning on staying in Mackinaw for the next week or somethin’? I mean the lake’s cool an’ all, but this town’s a bit tiny and I’m guessin’ we’ll be bored here soon.” Jack shrugged, leaning his elbows down onto the consul and resting his face on both fists. 

“Where else’do you wanna go?” Turning and leaning against the door, Mark faced Jack.

“I don’t really know. For a while I was trying to get out to like Vegas or the Grand Canyon or something. But there is so much nothing out there no one wants to take a stranger that far.”

“So Arizona, the scenic route?” Mark said with a shrug. “There’s a bunch a stuff between here and there we could see.” A pause and then he snorted. “Mostly corn though.”

“You know I lived on a corn farm in Nebraska for four months once.” Still leaning on his elbows, Jack got a far away look in his eyes and that melancholy side smile that Mark couldn’t decide how he felt about. “The wife of the owner had picked me up from a dinky town thirty or so miles from their farm ‘cuz her mom had been Irish. She let me help work the place and sleep in their trailer for the whole summer.” The smaller man hummed and continued looking off into the middle distance.

“Why’d you leave?” Mark asked when the pause had gone on long enough to signal Jack wasn’t planning on continuing.

Sitting up with a sigh, Jack seemed to check back into reality. A genuine smile cracked across his face and he gave a crinkly eye chuckle as he replied. “I got in a fight with their oldest son when he came for a visit. I ended up punching him in the dick and then running away. I took all my junk and walked about five hours before crashing in someone's unlocked barn. I ended up walking back to that little town the next morning and caught a ride into Iowa.”

“Jesus, what’d he say?” Mark couldn’t help but chuckle along, Jack infecting him as he usually did. 

“Oh god, I don’t remember. That was more than a year ago now. It was something offensive about something I don’t care about any more I’m sure.” A shrug. “But enough about backwoods farm boys, let’s go find us some food.”

“Sure thing, Jackaboy.” Mark smiled and finally shifted to turn the car on. 

Food did turn out to be grilling hot dogs in the park. They’d found a dinky grocery store a block away from the marina they’d walked past earlier and picked up everything necessary for an impromptu barbeque. 

They sat and ate hot dogs, chips and s’mores until well after the sun set. Mark spent most of the time trying to remember the consolations while Jack gave him shotty lectures on the mythology behind it. Which of course led Mark to making up a story about a soup maker that got the big dipper named after him. 

“What dude in the 1400s would have been named Dipper Mark?” Jack had asked around a double stuffed s’more with a roasted starburst added on top. 

“The famous soup chef, Leonardo McDipper of course. Gosh, this is my turn to teach you, so stop questioning my authority please.” Instead of taking the time to roast the starbursts, Mark just ate them right out of the bag. He tried and failed each time to peel the wrapper off from inside his mouth, resulting in a pile of soggy paper being tossed in the flames every so often. 

“Oh, touchy are we?” Mark simply ignored the question and continued telling the daring tale of Leo and his quest for the best tomato basil recipe known to man. Things continues like that well past midnight and into the early morning. They eventually killed the grill and climbed up a hill to continue the conversation, both laying out on the blanket Jack had pulled out his duffel in the trunk and covered up by a couple Mark had stuffed in a box back there. As the time between their replies lengthened and the amount of time their eyelids stayed closed between blinks stretched on, the two stayed right there staring up into the sky. 

Mark silently wished for the morning to never come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I got this out so much faster than intended! All the feed back on the first chapter was just so amazing and I got so inspired to work on this when ever I had a single second. Thank you all so much. 
> 
> 2\. I fixed most of the errors in the first chapter and will update that accordingly
> 
> 3\. For anyone that has been to Mackinaw they were walking from the Marina and around the peninsula past the Headlands.


	3. Sunflower Seeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh really, how are you going to get to Arizona then?” Mark replied, flicking a sunflower seed shell at Jack’s head. No reaction. 
> 
> “I’ll just take your car. Driving can’t be that hard if someone as dumb as you can do it.” Jack flipped to the next page seeming all together bored with Mark.
> 
> “Rude!” Mark shot back before the first bit of the sentence caught up with him. “Wait you can’t drive?”
> 
> “Never really had a reason to back in Ireland. Once I got here I never really felt the inclination to learn.” This time Jack did look up, but only to flick a freshly slobbered on shell at Mark, who grimaced and dodged.

“Are you homeless?” Those words called out to Mark as if in a haze, before the pain in his back kicked in forcing him to realized where he’d been sleeping all night.

“Yep, are you?” Jack’s voice sounded from next to him and of course this morning that kid was already awake enough to not only understand the question, but also respond. Where’d the grouch from yesterday go? At least Mark wouldn’t feel so bad for wanting to push the kid down the hill if Jack was in the same boat as him.

“No.” There was that voice again, the tiny squeaky one that had so rudely woken him up earlier. Deciding to open his eyes and investigate was a terrible mistake, the light of the sun overhead blinding him. With a groan he sat up, all the bones in his body cracking in quick succession at the movement. 

The little girl that’d woken them up startled at his movement, staring at him as he rubbed his face and yawned. Once his eyes had adjusted enough to not die under the rays of light, Mark turned and returned the child’s stare. 

“Hi?” He asked her after a few moments of the stare down. 

“You’re weird,” was all she said before turning on her heel and running back towards the playground. Mark watched her for a bit, higher brain function not quite back online yet.  
“We should probably get going before her dad comes over here and calls the cops on us. I’m pretty sure sleeping in the park isn’t okay.” Jack told him as he stood up, turning to face his sleepy companion. “It’s probably getting close to ten already and I could use a good old truck stop shower here soon.”

“Why the hell are there kids at the park on a Thursday morning, do they not do school here?” Getting up took a great deal of effort, but Mark made it and started helping fold up the blankets they’d been sleeping on. 

“Who knows, maybe there’s some break or something.” Jack bent down to shove any trash they’d ended up falling asleep next to into a grocery bag with the leftover candy and chips in it. Mark tossed the blankets over his shoulder and made his way back to the lot they’d parked in the night before. 

He was bit surprised to find they hadn’t gotten a ticket for parking overnight and that everything about the car was exactly as they’d left it, but decided not to question it. 

“So just generally south you thinking? Or do you have any particular way you wanna go?” Mark asked as they sat down. His back ached and a line of pain rested just at the side of his neck, the thought of sitting in the car as long as they had planned yesterday scared him a little. 

“Well, we smell like shit. Especially you.” Mark shoved him a bit for that. Jack just grinned proudly. “So, we need to find a public shower or a decent sized truck stop to solve that issue.” 

“Then we need somewhere to charge my phone or get wifi on your laptop, yeah?” Jack began to nod, but cut off and jumped up to lean over the consul in to the back seat. 

“No wait, I think I got a map of that stuff somewhere in this bag.” He leaned further, one knee bent up and resting on the cup holders. Mark watched him for a moment, a little caught by the smaller man's hips shaking as his wrestled with the backpack zipper. The sound of it pulling open woke Mark out of his daze and he spun forward like a lightening bolt. He stayed facing ramrod straight while Jack cursed under his breath, hips still rocking in Mark’s peripheral. 

“Find anything yet?” Mark asked, clearing his throat halfway through when his voice came out more a rasp than anything else. He mentally hit himself for whatever that was about. 

“Um, I think.” Jack paused, leaning further forward. “Yep! Found it.” Shuffling back into his seat he started skimming through a paperback book with the title ‘Road Trip USA: Your Guide to the Greater North America.’ Mark wasn't quite sure what the title was trying to imply, but it looked like a reader's digest booklet from the late 80s so he didn't give it much weight. 

“I picked this up at a garage sell in West Virginia somewhere. It's got maps of just about anything. Including…” Jack paused for a moment, flipping between the glossary and a few pages towards the middle. “This!” Turning the booklet around, Jack pointed vaguely towards the upper half of Michigan on a map labeled, ‘Great Lakes Region: Truck Stops.’

“Huh, how up to date is it?” Mark asked as he took the book from Jack, trying to figure out which numbered square was closest to them. 

“I think it was published sometime in the early 2000s. Occasionally, you get to a spot that's boarded up or renovated into a laundry. Most times it works well though, especially the state rest stops.” Jack took the booklet back when Mark passed it to him, pointing out square number 15 just twenty miles southwest of them. 

“Don't know till we try I guess.” Pulling out of the lot, Mark listened as Jack gave him some vague directions attempting to follow along with the zoomed out map. “Have you used this book a lot?” 

“A handful of times. I've had it a few months now and it's been nice. I use it mostly for the truck stop section, that's the best place to get a ride in a pinch.” Jack answered as Mark pulled on to a dinky state road. 

They were mostly quiet as the drove the short distance, silence only broken by Jacks directions. Mark was still mentally waking up and not quite at the mental capacity to hold much of a conversation. 

Part of him really wanted to laugh hysterically at it all. He’d fallen asleep stargazing with a mysterious Irish hitchhiker on a hill next to a community playground. This wasn't exactly the change he'd been looking for when he gave away half his stuff and hit the road. It was three hundred times better. 

Luckily, the stop still existed exactly where the map told them it would. Half of the station was a processed food grocery store and the other half was split between paid showers, emergency car parts and a Starbucks. Mark and Jack made quick work of signing up for the next available shower stall, ignoring the strange look the clerk shot Mark as the walked in. 

The stop was pretty empty, so Mark got called back to stall 7 before he'd even had a chance to look over the donut selection. Walking in and plopping down his clothes pile on the toliet, Mark caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror above the tiny ceramic tiled sink. Three good sized crunchy leaves poked out of his hair in odd angles. His clothes were rumbled and covered in sand, dirt and grass. To top it off his glasses laid crooked across a face that looked like it hadn't rested in ten years. No wonder the clerk gave him such a judgmental look. 

Jack hadn't looked nearly as trashed. Sure his jeans were stained, but they were black so that didn't show. He'd taken his hoodie off when gotten to the car, so his shirt seemed clean. Plus, his hat covered any grease or debris hidden in his hair. Even his face looked more rested and ready for the day then Mark’s bagged and squinted eyes. 

Deciding getting annoyed at Jack for not telling him about his current state of dishevelment wasn't worth it, Mark undressed.

x-x-x

Freshly showered, with gas station breakfast burritos, 2 liter water bottles and tons of chip bags in hand, Mark and Jack headed towards Chicago. 

When Mark got out of the shower he'd found Jack with the map booklet out circling places with a pen. Chicago had been the closest place outlined in red and Mark just went with it, following Jack’s shitty attempt at direction giving. His only technology was an old laptop and a bamboo tablet with orange duck tape around the USB cord. Mark’s dead phone had been tossed into the trunk with his dirty clothes, so all they had to go off was the booklet. That map worked okay for the most part until they'd ended up needing to switch highways 5 times and Jack go so confused they'd found themselves on a dirt road following signs to Cadillac.

“How are we headed east? The freeway we were on was west of this place!” Jack asked flipping frantically through the booklet in hopes of finding a more zoomed in map of this area. 

“It's the blind leading the blinder, man. I was just listening to you, trusting you, believing I had finally found someone I could rely on.” Mark lamented, leaning one elbow out his open window.

“Shut up! You try following a map that only names major highways and doesn't tell you what exit they switch at.” Jack snapped back, clearly frustrated. Mark didn't really take it to heart though, just laughing at his response. 

“We’re not on a schedule or anything, we have time to get lost a bit.” Stretching his shoulders, Mark took in the greenery around them. The trees and grass lots surrounding them were a nice change from the city scape view he'd gotten used to around his apartment. Although, the air smelt mostly like dirt and swamp water, something about it was crisper than the industrial sector he'd lived in for the past year. 

“Sure, but I'd rather not spend another night in a park if we have the ability to get a room with a bed.” Jack replied with a sigh, giving up his map search and tossing the booklet to the back of the car. 

“Come on, it wasn't too bad.” 

“Says the man that complained about neck pain for 30 minutes after waking up.” Jack’s tone was mellowing out from his early frustration, adopting the teasing tone Mark liked best. 

“Minor set back.” With a laugh, Mark turned right onto a paved road following a green sign for Cadillac. 

“If you had a car adapter we could charge your phone and use its GPS.” Jack commented minutes later, leaning part way out his window and watching the scenery roll past.

“I do have one.” Mark replied without thinking, not remembering why he’d left that bit of information unspoken until it’d came out of his mouth. 

“What the hell, why didn’t you say so sooner?” Jack spun around, not really looking accusing or angry, but setting Mark’s nerves on edge just the same. 

“I just didn’t think it was pertinent.” Looking everywhere but at Jack, Mark tried hard to sound casual about the whole thing. The laughter bubbling from next to him really wasn’t helping. 

“Did you want us to get lost! Where is it, do we need to pull over and pull it out?” He was grinning, happy still dancing around in the light hearted realm of their surface level friendship. Though, Mark wasn’t really sure they’d gotten to that point yet. They were probably trapped at level 10 Acquaintance, not willing to plunge past it. The past two days, Mark and Jack lived in a world just outside reality and a few steps shy of fantasy. Everything else was on hold, existing outside their little bubble. Mark couldn’t leave it yet. 

“I don’t want to turn my phone on.” Coming out in a rush, the words felt odd on Mark’s tongue: too heavy, too close to the truth. 

For a moment he chanced a glance over at Jack. There was a different sort of light in his eyes, something not so bright and glowing yellow as before. They were standing on a edge again, the one Mark felt waiting for him every time they glanced back towards reality. Mark could practically see Jack considering the plunge, one foot easing towards the cliff. Swelling anticipation prickled up Mark’s back. Jack was going to jump; he’d start asking questions Mark couldn’t answer and offering answers to the few nagging at the corner of Mark’s mind. They’d stopping running, find out too much and walk away from each other. Alone again and aching, lost in a life he didn’t want but unable to find one he did, Mark wouldn’t know what to do. His very heartbeat paused in anticipation. 

“Okay.” Jack stepped away. Returning to Mark’s side, back to the abyss and staring out at the quiet wide open, Jack smiled. His grin was reassuring, whispering gently ‘not yet, don’t worry’. A held breath escaped from Mark’s too full lungs and he grinned back, the looming darkness of the edge peeling away. 

“Thank you.” Mark managed, it came out too sincere, too casual. Jack nodded and jumped out of the moment before it could stick. 

“I bet there’s a Walmart or something in this city we’re going to. They’d probably have a better map we can pick up there.”

x-x-x

Turned out the dirt road should have been their first clue that no Walmart would be waiting for them. They managed to find a discount grocery store sharing a parking lot with a manga shop. A dozen or so maps sat in a cardboard kiosk by the front registers. 

After spending much longer than necessary considering their map options, they payed a girl with purple hair and 4 nose piercings in change from the truck stop. Instead of hitting the road immediately after, curiosity got the better of them and they found themselves perusing the manga shop for a good hour. Most of the time was spent trying to find the craziest summary or the nicest looking art work. Jack walked out with two manga about aliens and video games and Mark had a key chain with an outrageously fat cat added to his key ring. 

“You’ll have to let me read that top one when you finish it.” Turning on the car, Mark groaned inwardly at the time. Seemed they’d be getting into Chicago well after 9. 

Jack pulled out one of their reserved chip bags from the back seat, propping it open between them. “Will do, boss.”

They’d taken the time before getting into the car to actually pick a specific route, so this stretch of the drive went much smoother. They played I spy for the first hour or so, before the highway pulled up along side Lake Michigan. From that point they mostly spent their time talking about the ocean, with Mark explaining all the ways it was the most terrible place to ever exist. Jack in turn described various predatory fish in excruciating detail, before revealing all of his information came from a marine biology student he’d driven with from Ohio to Vermont.

“Do you get long rides often?” Mark felt vaguely jealous about the whole thing, but hoped his blank expression and extreme focus on the rush hour traffic filled highway in front of them didn’t give him away.

“Occasionally, most average about 3 hours. But, I’ve gotten a handful of them over 10.” Jack thought for a bit. “Though, you’re the first person that’s gone past 24 hours that wasn’t a family letting me sleep in their extra room or a college student that wanted a drinking buddy for the weekend.”

“You got a lot of those?” Feeling dumb for feeling a little special, Mark shoved a handful of Cheetos in his mouth.

“No, I’ve gotten a place to sleep from the person giving me a ride only 5 times. Including you. All the other long term stays were room and board jobs I found online somewhere.” Jack followed Mark’s lead and joined him in the Cheeto consumption. 

The rest of the ride to Chicago was filled up with lame car games, Jack reading the first few chapters of his Manga and pausing to tell Mark about especially good parts, and pointing out especially strange billboards. 

“What is that even suppose to mean?” Jack asked with his mouth full of sunflower seeds. Turning to follow Jack’s pointed finger, Mark saw the billboard he was talking about. It was blue with the Pillsbury Doughboy holding a loaf of bread under a red ribbon with the words ‘Go ahead, pinch off a loaf.’ written on it in white.

“Pinch off a loaf?” Mark asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Jack just gestured in agreement, pinching open a seed and putting the shell in an old coffee cup they found in the back seat.

They considered various possible meanings to that, but got bored before reaching any conclusive agreement. Jack went back to his book and Mark fiddled with the radio, skipping through all the stations several times until Jack hit his hand. 

“Pick something or I’m gonna kill you.” Not bothering to look up from the pages of stylized robots fighting a large sea creature, Jack still managed to sound a bit threatening.

“Oh really, how are you going to get to Arizona then?” Mark replied, flicking a sunflower seed shell at Jack’s head. No reaction. 

“I’ll just take your car. Driving can’t be that hard if someone as dumb as you can do it.” Jack flipped to the next page seeming all together bored with Mark.

“Rude!” Mark shot back before the first bit of the sentence caught up with him. “Wait you can’t drive?”

“Never really had a reason to back in Ireland. Once I got here I never really felt the inclination to learn.” This time Jack did look up, but only to flick a freshly slobbered on shell at Mark, who grimaced and dodged.

“I could teach you. It really isn’t too hard. You just need an empty parking lot to practice in.” Mark popped open a seed and threw the shell at Jack, expertly hitting his open book and bouncing up to hit him in the chin. Mark grinned as Jack rolled his eyes, reaching into the sunflower bag to refill his ammunition. 

“I don’t mind not knowing. I’ve tried a few times before, but if you want to I won’t say no.” A shell to the ear.

“It might be a fun thing to do if we need a break, but aren’t by anything fun.” Mark pulled out four shells he’d tucked between his upper lip and teeth and sprinkled them over Jack’s head. Jack just shook his head to get them off and frowned over at Mark. 

“Sure.” Jack skipped putting the seed in his mouth and just snatched the bag from it’s spot between them, reaching in to grab a handful and lob it into Mark’s shoulder. Flinching, Mark swerved a little on the road before straightening out and turning to glare at Jack. He flung one hand out and attempted to steal the bag from Jack, who raised it over his head and stretch away, keeping the bag just out of Mark’s reach. 

When they pulled up to a motel 8 just outside downtown Chicago, the car and themselves were covered in sunflower seeds and water. (Which Jack had spilt when leaning over into Mark’s lap to pull the bag out from between Mark’s seat and door). The clerk didn’t even give them a weird look, just swiped Mark’s debit card and handed them their key with little care. 

A soon as they got themselves and their bags into the room, Jack had his laptop out in front of him, where he laid on his stomach on the furthest bed. 

“Suffering from internet withdraw?” Mark asked as he sat down on his bed to pull off his shoes and socks, feet and ankles crying from the stop and go traffic they were stuck in for the last two hours of the trip. 

“Kind of, but I had a job I ment to finish yesterday that I have to get out before midnight.” 

“You work?” Mark asked, unable to stop the surprise from slipping out in his tone. 

“Yep.” Jack replied with a laugh. “Mostly just random stuff. Online surveys, coding an old guy's website for him, drawing characters for people on Tumblr.” Jack started typing frantically on his keyboard and Mark decided to just go change for bed and ask more questions about his friend’s apparent coding and art skills later. 

When he got out, Jack was in the sweats he wore at their last motel, staring at a loading screen on his laptop. He was flopped with his legs hanging off the edge of the bed, and head resting in his crossed arms.

“What you uploading?” Mark asked, grabbing the manga Jack had finished in the car and flopping down onto his bed.

“A commission I finished back in Gay Lord, but was too tired to upload that night.” Rolling away from his laptop to look at Mark, Jack instantly cracked up. “You still have a sunflower shell in your hair.” 

Mark groaned and brushed through his hair while shaking his head. “I thought I got all of them.”

“Doesn’t look like it. I’m surprised I don’t have any stuck in my hair after you poured half the bag on me.” Jack laughed at Mark’s misfortune, turning back to his laptop when it dinged that the upload was finished. Mark huffed and opened his book.

“So you can draw?” Looking up from the page he’d been reading when Jack commented on his work being completed, Mark decided to quench his curiosity. 

“Sort of. I use to be super shitty at it, so I guess compared to when I first got my tablet I draw amazing. But, it’s mostly just cartoony people.” Jack shrugged, laying down onto his pillows and propping his laptop up on his bent knees. “I saw tons of people getting money to doodle stuff for people and decided I had time to practice.”

“So lots of people pay you to do stuff?” 

“Not tons or anything, but I get a steady stream of people asking for random OCs and fanart-y stuff.” Jack scratched his stomach and burped up some gas from the taco bell they grabbed while looking for a hotel. 

 

“Gross,” was all Mark said to that, turning his focus back to the manga. He read a few chapters, surprised at how much he was enjoy it, before his eyelids started drooping. Glancing over at Jack, he saw him scrolling through Tumblr with a bored look on his face. 

“What level am I at now?” Mark asked, setting his book on the side table between them and pulling up the blankets to shuffle beneath them.

It took a minute for Jack to look up and another for him to process what Mark had said. He grinned. “Play your cards right and I bet you could hit friend level one by lunch tomorrow.”

Mark chuckled and rolled over and away from the light of Jack’s laptop screen. He fell asleep to the sound of typing and occasional snort of amusement from Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I'm sorry this chapter took so much longer to get out. My July 4th weekend was super busy and today was the first time I was able to sit down and just straight work on it. 
> 
> 2\. Finally they are out of Michigan. Also, I am not sure I am going to stay at the 18 mark. I didn't mean for this to be a one chapter per day deal, but it just keeps happening like that. So I guess we will see if I need to movie it. 
> 
> 3\. Thank you all so much for your comments and kudos on this fic. It really makes my day to get even the tiniest comment of another kudos! So please, if you have anything you want to see or anything you either liked or hated let me know!


	4. Lincoln Park Zoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Maybe, but you’re like 200 pounds lighter.”
> 
> “Mark, you’re not even 200 pounds.” 
> 
> “Exactly, you’re like negative weight.” Mark bit into his hot dog, not breaking eye contact with Jack as his did so. Jack just furrowed his brows in exasperation and shook his head.

Chicago was more like New York than New York. At least that was Jack’s opinion on the matter. Mark had never been and couldn’t really comment. 

“Sure, all the iconic stuff is missing, but New York is such a weird combination of high-tech riches and grime. It doesn’t feel like a real place. But this,” Jack took a moment to gesture vaguely at all of Chicago. “This is like those old timey cities you see in all the movies.”

“If you want Movie New York, you’d have to go to Toronto. That’s usually were they film it.” Sipping at a hot coffee he'd picked up at a dinky mom-and-pop shop a few blocks back, Mark shivered a bit at the cool chippy air. Chicago was a good 20 degrees colder than Mackinaw, which confused Mark a bit since they'd been way further north and actually right on the lake two days ago. Both him and Jack had pulled large over coats out of the trunk when they'd gotten out of the hotel room around 8 that morning. 

“That's modern movies, not like the black and white ones they sell for 25 cents at thrift shops.” Hopping along in front of Mark, Jack looked at bit like an excited five year old. Especially with the oversized red coat zipped up to his chin and bright green beanie pulled down just above his eyebrows. Only his fingers peeked out from the too wide sleeves. Its bottom hem made it down halfway to his knee and his skin tight black jeans did nothing to help his legs look less horribly scrawny. The whole outfit made him looking even tinier than he was and Mark really couldn't understand how he seemed so comfortable out in the cold when Mark was attempting to find a way to tuck his entire body into itself for warmth. 

“So you like silent films?” Mark asked between blows into his coffee so the steam would billow out and cover his red nose in some much needed warmth. His brown snow jacket fit just to the top of his jeans and even his wool black beanie didn't stop him from feeling jealous over the length of Jack’s coat. The said owner looked back in time to see Mark’s judgmental eyebrow raise and just huffed and went back to leading them down the sidewalk. 

“Kinda, I just ended up in a town with only 3 stores and one happened to be a bizarre 24 hour thrift shop. So I spent the six months I lived there basically keeping the little shop in business with late night movie purchases.” They turned a corner onto a much wider sidewalk and Jack slowed his pace to fall in next to Mark. He took the larger man’s idea and blew on his own coffee before continuing. “One week they got five boxes of old films on VHS donated, most of which were old times silent films and I went through all of them.” 

“What were you doing there for six months?” Looking up from his cup Mark smiled at a woman walking her dog as she passed them. She nodded in return and continued on, pulling at the puppy’s leash when it tried to sniff Mark’s shoe. The road and sidewalks were wider here, but it seemed much more residential than the last street, all brick apartments and dusty cars parked along the curb. So far Mark was convinced Chicago was made entirely of brick, various colors and textures all cemented on top of one another and detailed in steel. He understood the old timey feel Jack was so enthralled with, the charm of a crisp morning stroll along shrub lined apartment blocks was growing on him. Honestly, he wouldn't really mind staying here for a while. He could smile at dog walking neighbors, get cups of coffee from the same little shop every morning and sit in a warm brick building watching thrift shop movies with Jack after work. 

“I was the night manager for a little Bed & Breakfast.” Jack commented, bringing Mark out of his fantasizing. It took him a moment to check back into the conversation and remember what he had asked. 

“Really? How was that?” 

“It was sweet. This little old guy named Jerry ran the place and paid me in a place to sleep and homemade breakfast and dinners. He usually gave me some cash too if I helped out with the yard work in the morning.” When they reached the end of the road, Jack stopped walking and took a moment to consider every direction before turning them right and continuing. “He usually ran the whole thing himself, but the town next to them had gotten way bigger and more people showed up at his inn late at night. For the most part I just answered calls from guests that needed ice and watched movies on the little TV/VHS combo he'd tucked under the front desk.”

“Sounds like a nice gig. Why’d you leave?” They seemed to be heading deeper into the belly of apartments, the sound of cars and people fading more and more as they walked on.

“The town was a fucking snooze fest!” Jack exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air and sloshing a bit of coffee on his hand. Mark snorted at the outburst and again when Jack tried to lick the coffee off his fingers without switching which hand held the coffee. After wiping off the bit of black liquid that landed on his nose during the attempt, he turned to Mark. 

“You should poor some of your coffee into my cup to make up for what I spilt.” For a second Mark just gave Jack an incredulous look, but was only met by Jack popping the lid off his cup and holding it out towards him. 

“Why on earth would I do that?” Mark pulled his own cardboard mug closer to himself, blocking it with his hand from any attempts to steal it. 

“I wouldn't have spilt any of you hadn't made me tell you that story.” Jack insisted, pushing his cup into Mark’s face for emphasis. 

“It's not my fault you are too expressive for your own good.” Mark turned his face away and kept walking after noticing they’d stopped in front of some cement steps with a large cat statue sat at the top. 

“It is too your fault. You bring it out of me, usually I am super groggy and quiet.” Dragging his feet, Jack demonstrated his attempt at quiet. Which consisted of sighs and floppy arms that dangled at his sides. Mark rolled his eyes when he noticed some more coffee spilling out at this.

“I absolutely do not believe that. You are the loudest and most obnoxiously energetic person on this earth. With or without one extra sip worth of coffee.” Mark squared his shoulders and took a long drink, slurping louder as Jack put his lid back on in defeat. 

“It was worth a try.” Another dejected sigh and glance over to see if Mark was feeling bad yet. All Jack got was a smile and a shake of the head. 

XXX

They'd walked around until both of their cups ran dry, aimlessly winding through the neighborhoods and more commercial strips as Jack picked. They'd found a trash can to chuck their cups next to a bus stop with a sign for the Lincoln Park Zoo. Mark had shrugged when Jack pointed it out and they both sat down on the bench under the little awning. The fair was 75 cents and Jack paid for it with an array of nickels and dimes that had been jingling in his coat pocket all morning while the bus driver stared Mark down as if it always his fault.

“I can see where you got the New York vibe from.” Two stops past the one they'd gotten on at and they’d made it into the actually city portion of Chicago. Mark had seen the metal skyscrapers poking out in the distance throughout their walk, but riding up right alongside them really put their size into perspective. Cincinnati had its fair share of high rise architecture, but Chicago was insanely more impressive. 

“Just imagine this times 4 with a couple extra helpings of graffiti and homeless people and you've got NYC.” Jack leaned over Mark's lap to get a better view out the window. “Just imagine being on that top floor.” He shuddered and leaned back in his seat with a grimace.

“Not a fan of heights?” Mark asked, twisting and leaning his back against the plastic of the window.

“No, not at all.” Jack answered, eyes wide and head shaking. “It gives me the ebbie-jeebies just thinking about it.” He shuddered and scrunched up his nose.

“That's how I am with the ocean.” Jack laughed at this.

“I never would have guest. I just thought you almost pissed yourself when we were talking about it yesterday because you're really needed to piss.” With a grin, Jack dodged Mark’s attempt to hit his arm. 

“Shut up, you're the one that thought it’d be fun to tell me exactly how many teeth the creepy fish at the bottom have.” Mark replied with a grumble and crossed his arms, pouting.

“Is there anything else you have a deep seeded fear of? Lions, otters, cute little butterflies?” There was no verbal response, just a glare. “I just want to make sure I hold your hand when you need me to.”

“Hold my hand and I will break your fingers.” Mark said, only half joking. Jack laughed way too loud at that, the bus driver starring Mark down from the rear view mirror and the handful of other passengers glancing over in annoyance. Mark just joined him and said a mental screw you to the overly cranky driver. 

XXX

The zoo was free. Which Jack treated as a near miracle, staring at the keeper like she'd just revealed the winning lotto tickets for the next 5 years. 

“We are dedicated to connecting people with nature by providing a free, family-oriented wildlife experience.” The perky coed recited with a forced smile, looking just a tad uncomfortable under Jack’s awestruck stare. 

“Okay Jack, I know you're thrilled, but don't frighten the pretty lady.” Mark smiled at her apologetically, her grin becoming a little shy at his remark. Linking an arm with Jack, he pulled him away. Calling over his shoulder as they walked away, “Thanks for your help,” Mark did not quite miss the disappointment on her face. 

“Come on, you got to admit. It's way awesome. I thought we'd just come see if it wasn't too expensive and maybe end up walking ‘round the area. But, nope we get to look through it for free. Amazing.” The wonder in his voice brought a smile to Mark’s face as the headed in the direction, the keeper had suggested. 

Mark had to admit the place was actually really cool. He'd heard of it before, but never really looked into it so the open winding path structure to it was a nice surprise. She had told them to head left towards the monkey exhibit and hit a little snack shop on the way since it was a bit past noon at this point. 

It wasn't until they lined up at the red and green gazebo style hot dog stand that Mark noticed their arms were still linked. Jack was too busy looking around the park and practically vibrating with joy to notice when Mark used getting his wallet out of his pocket as an excuse to unlink them. He was oddly happy it went undetected.

Fully loaded hot dogs and a large soda to share in hand they followed the signs to the monkey’s. Each enclosure was actually quite large, netted on one side and glassed where the people stood. Most of the monkeys were huddled up together in the little shelters built for them. Even though the sun had made it out between the clouds, the temperature had only barely improved. Mark was a bit jealous of the cuddle piles.

“That one’s you.” Jack commented, pointing at a black howler picking his nose and leaning against a trunk right up by the glass. Mark scoffed and pulled the soda out of Jack's hand before turning and continuing on to the next animal. Snickering, Jack hurried after, tossing the trash from his hot dog in a nearby can. 

Around the corner Mark found the perfect revenge. Huddled together on a branch were five tiny white and puffy monkeys. They all had big wide alien eyes staring at Mark with a creepy level of fascination. “Oh look I found your twin!”

Jack halted in his attempt to snatch the drink back and turned to follow Mark’s pointing. His grin fell and he rolled his eyes, before looking back at Mark, who sipped on the straw with a smirk. 

“Very funny. I’m not even shorter than ya Mark!” Crossing his arms Jack stood up a bit more and puffed up his chest to prove the point. It really just made the shoulders of his coat scrunch up, accentuating the kid in dad’s clothes look he had going. 

“Maybe, but you’re like 200 pounds lighter.” Jack finally snatched the drink back. 

“Mark, you’re not even 200 pounds.” 

“Exactly, you’re like negative weight.” Mark bit into his hot dog, not breaking eye contact with Jack as his did so. Jack just furrowed his brows in exasperation and shook his head. 

“If you're so concerned about it, you could give the rest of that hot dog you’re takin’ your sweet time eating.” Jack held out his hand and Mark turned to guard the hot dog. The wide eyed monkeys watched the exchange.

“Why do you keep trying to steal my food? Just because I don't inhale my meal doesn’t mean I don’t need it all to grow up big and strong.” Mark whined, backing away from Jack in mock fear. 

“You're already halfway there, you can spare some.” Jack insisted, both hands out now. 

“Did you just insinuate that I am fat?” Again Mark whined, voice higher this time. “How could you?”

“No, no, I wasn’t sa-” Jack looked a tiny bit panicked, but mostly proud and amused. Mark gaped at him in horror.

“I hope you're happy, that just lost you 50 friend points!” Mark turned and bit into his hot dog, not really bothering to chew before adding, “I need some ice cream to cry into.”

“Come on Mark. I was talking about you being strong!” A few scattered groups of people watched as Jack chased after Mark, who stomped off and dejectedly munched at his hot dog. “You’re super strong, swoon worthy even.”

“You mean it?” Mark sniffled and stopped to turn back and face Jack. It was obvious Jack could see Mark was milking it, but he went with it anyways. 

“Of course, you’re a, a total hunk.” It came out as if it was causing Jack actual pain to say it. Mark tried very hard not to grin. 

“Yeah you’re right. I’m super hot, you’re lucky you met me.”

“Sure.” Chuckling, Jack nodded in agreement. 

“Then say it.” He was probably taking it a little far now, but he was having too much fun to quit now. 

“No way.” Jack said it as firmly as he could while laughing.

“Come on, say it. Say ‘You’re so hot Mark, I’m so lucky to get to hang out with such a cool guy like you’.” He did his best impression of a tweenage girl as he said it. Having finished his food by now, he crumpled the trash in his hand while he crossed his arms and waited for Jack’s response. 

“When that’d cool part get added on? There is no way I am saying that.” Jack mirrored Mark’s stance and they stayed staring each other down for a few moments too long before Mark sighed and dropped his arms.

“I guess those points don’t mean anything to you.” 

“Oh shut up, I’ll get them back in like ten minutes. You like me too much.” Jack took the trash from Mark's hand and turned back to toss them in the trash can he’d found earlier. 

“You never know, this could have been one of the super important choices. Now you’re stuck heading towards the bad ending.” Mark didn’t bother to comment on just how much he liked Jack, the remark was honestly way more true than Jack probably even realized. Instead he just followed after him and tried very hard not to laugh loud enough to draw all the attention towards them again.

“Oh and what's the bad ending? You sulking for the rest of the day?” After tossing the trash, Jack turned away from Mark to watch a trio of Macaques clean each other. 

“No, it's the one where I become a super terrible villain and kill the whole world.” Sliding up next to Jack, Mark chuckled a bit at one Macaque shoving his finger in the other’s ear and getting a quick shove off the branch in return. 

“If me not calling you hot turns you evil, you have way more issues than you let on.” Jack laughed along with Mark at the scene. “Did that monkey give the other one a wet-willy?” 

“He certainly wasn’t pleased.” They watched the two tussle with each other for a bit longer before Mark got bored, pulling the drink away from a distracted Jack and turning to walk away from the monkey enclosure. “Come on, I saw a sign for the hippos up that way.”

Jack huffed in annoyance and tried half-heartedly to get the soda back, but gave up quick and followed Mark without comment. 

They spent nearly four hours walking around the north half of the zoo. Not too many other people where out, more than likely due to the weather. Most of the animals seemed just as unhappy about the cold, many sleeping in clumps together or hidden away in wooden shelters. The African exhibit was almost entirely like this, so most of their time in there was spent yawning to see if it would get the animals to do it too. Jack nearly jumped on Mark’s shoulders in excitement when a Lion did it back at them and Mark dissolved into a fit of laughter when a hippo responded to Jack with an outrageously loud fart.

Between there and the Arctic enclosure they found another food stand, selling both ice cream and hot chocolate. Against his better judgment, Mark convinced Jack to go with the ice cream.

“Why did we get THE coldest thing they sold again?” Jack asked between licks, holding his shoulders and shivering. 

“Because it will warm you up.” Mark answered, biting off some of the cone on his drumstick. 

“You never got around to explain exactly how? I think the only thing it’s done so far is gotten my insides just as cold as my outsides.” Yet, he still munched at his treat.

“It’s like a feedback loop.” Drawing a loop around his stomach, he demonstrated to a unamused looking Jack.“It is! It’s making your insides colder, but then your body is going to get worried, respond to it and turn up the temperature using the calories you just ate.” 

“What now?” Jack snorted and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Really, it works. You’re just tricking your body into thinking it’s too cold and so it’s warm up. Human’s are endothermic, so only our body can really actually regulate our temperature.” They’d made it to the polar bears at this point, both happy to see one animal that seemed extremely pleased with the current environment.

“What are you, a Doctor?” Jack asked with an incredulous look.

“No, I just took a bunch of biology classes in college.” Mark had gone up to the glass where one bear was laid out and staring at them. 

“Was that you’re major?” Joining Mark, Jack forced himself to yawn to continue their game from earlier. The polar bear just stared at him unmoving. 

“No.. Well, not really. I did Biomedical Engineering.” Mark gave the yawning game a try himself, but didn’t get any better results. 

“Wait, what? That sounds terrifying!” Jack swung over to look at his friend in mock horror. “You’re secretly a smarty pants, aren’t you?”

“First of all, I don’t like what your question is implying.” Turning to the smaller man, Mark glared goodnaturedly. “And second, I’m certainly not stupid, but I also wasn’t like best kid in the class or anything. You don’t need to be a genius, just okay at math and science.”

“Hu-uh, says someone who is good at math and science.” Jack just shook his head and muttered something about nerds under his breath. 

From there they found the Penguins, who were all swimming and running around their enclosure with all the energy the African animals lacked. Jack tried imitating them, but Mark took the cake when he turned his feet almost backwards and waddled across the entire glass window of the exhibit. Jack had been so horrified by it, he spent a good ten minutes after refusing to look at the older man. 

The bird cages were Mark’s favorite part, mostly because a parrot had taken a specific disgust with Jack’s existence and had tried flying at the poor kid and squawking the entire time they walked past. Jack had punched Mark rather hard in the shoulder for laughing at it.

The otters were the ones to get Jack’s vote for best animal. They’d spent more than half an hour just sitting on a cement bench watching the little things swim in circles and float along the top holding hands. Mark wished he’d bothered to charge his phone that night, if only so he could have snapped a picture of Jack’s face plastered up against the glass as one otter attempted to sniff him through it. It would have made a great wallpaper. 

By the time they’d circled back to their hot dog gazebo, both men felt the aching in their feet and unanimously decided a nice sit down meal and buss ride back to their parking spot sounded wonderful. The same perky employee from earlier waved them goodbye at they headed back out into the city. 

XXX

“I’ve never been so happy to sit down in my entire life.” Jack huffed as they collapsed into Mark’s car. They’d made the mistake of not reading which street they’d parked on and ended up getting off the buss ten blocks too early. It wouldn’t have been too bad if they managed to just walk straight there, but Mark was certain they’d parked closer to the coffee shop than Jack thought. Several circles and turnarounds later, Jack evoked Mark’s leadership position and found the way to the car with only a few wrong turns. 

“I’m sorry for anything bad i’ve ever said about you, you’re a beautiful car.” Mark rubbed the dashboard with a truly lovestruck look in his eyes. Jack just laughed.

“If you’re done seducing the car, can we get the heater on?” Mark gave the dash a few more loving pats before complying and pulling off the side of the road. They’d been lucky enough to find a nice mostly empty neighborhood to park free in, so it was rather easy to get out and onto the road. 

“Do we want to stay in the city for dinner, or do you want to get a little further south before we completely lose the sun?” Mark asked as they stopped at an intersection. 

“I’m not super hungry yet, but I’m sure i’ll want something in an hour or so. I think we gave Chicago a good day, so I’m fine with leaving and crashing where ever we decided to stop.” Mark agreed and they set out, following signs for 57 south. 

As if on clockwork, they stop nearly exactly an hour in for a little city called Kankakee. They’d seen a sign for an IHOP and decided, pancakes sounded great, but passed a better place on the way there. 

“It’s actually called Burger’s Pizza, that’s awesome.” Jack laughed as they got out of the car, shivering a bit at the crisp air. He reached back in the car and grabbed his big poofy jacket. 

“Yeah, it looks pretty cool. I hope it’s good.” Mark followed Jack as they walked up to the big red brick house that seemed to have been repurposed into a diner of sorts. 

The inside was just as interesting, with old counter top tables and wicker chairs scattered around the first floor. A bar decorated with fake snow and little teddy bears sat mostly empty in the far left corner while a green wood podium rested just right of the door. A teenage boy with overly gelled hair and a extra chipper grin waved them in. The place wasn’t empty by any means, but they didn’t seem extra busy either, so they were sat down at a two seat table by the back window right away. 

The host rattled off the special, gave them the laminated menus and ran off to get them both some hot coffee and water. 

“What do you know, they sell burgers and pizza.” Mark commented as he slid his jacket off and onto the chair behind him, Jack laughing and copy with his own coat.

“Darn, I was hopping for some Tai Chicken.” 

They decided to split a large sausage pizza and spent the meal talking about the zoo, Jack still counting the price as the best part of it. 

“So, what’s the next stop on our itinerary Jackaboy?” Mark asked around his second slice of pizza. 

“Really wherever. Most of the cities I circled are way more westward, since i’ve seen most of the ones in this part of the world.” With a shrug, Jack bit into his third slice, obviously really enjoying the rather delicious meal. 

“Anywhere pre Rocky Mountains?” 

“I’ve never been to Texas. That’s on this side right?” Jack asked, looking up to the ceiling in thought. 

“Technically, but west Texas sort of creeps past that point. Dallas is on the east corner.” At least, that’s what Mark remembered from the geography class he took in middle school. Jack probably hadn’t gotten that lesson back in Ireland, but then again maybe he’d moved to the states early enough to catch it. Either way, Mark still felt a little dumb for having to think so hard about it. 

“I’ve never heard anything nice about Texas, but I figured I should make the judgment myself. If you don’t mind going we could head that way in the morning.” Jack shrugged and didn’t seemed too invested in the idea. Still Mark thought it’d be nice to have a more immediate destination to aim the car at than just someday Arizona. 

“It’d give us a place to drive to. We can stop wherever else we feel like along the way.” He didn’t know the exact distance, but he’d guess Texas was a decent drive from their pizza shop. They’d probably pull off a dozen times before even seeing the signs for it. They didn’t need any exacts or deadlines.

“Sounds good to me.” Jack grinned at him from across the table. Something about it made Mark shiver, but also feel warmer than he had the entire day. 

“The lone star state it is. Hope you’re ready for the south my friend.” Mark grinned back, breaking eye contact reluctantly to eat. 

“Anywhere that’s warmer than here’s good with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long to get out to you guys. I had an extremely busy two weeks, but I promise I will get out the next one faster than this. I made this chapter about 1000 words longer to make up for it. 
> 
> I know this chapter didn't have much by way of plot, but believe me stuff is coming and soon.
> 
> As always thank you so so much for all the feed back. I hope you liked this one!


	5. Kankakee to DeGrey Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “A crowded highway isn't really the best place to teach someone how to drive!” Mark complained in a high pitch voice that seemed to only convince Jack of his exhaustion. 
> 
> “Come on, slap her into park and go sit in the back. Stretch your legs out a bit.” Jack grinned all crinkly and bright. Mark wanted to do something. He didn't really think that something was handing over his car to a tiny kid with no license, but the urge to move was getting to him. 
> 
> “Fine.” Mark grumbled after a minuted, ignoring Jack’s fist pump and climbed over the middle console.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another two week update between chapters! I'm sorry I really try to put these out quicker, but life is busy. Atlas this is a good 1,000 or so words longer than the last one. Hopefully that makes up for it?

They did not make it out of Kankakee until almost noon the next day. After eating their fill of pizza, they’d ventured back into the frigid night air and drove around a while before finding a super 8. Instead of falling asleep straight away, they spent the night playing go fish with a deck of cards Jack found in Mark’s glove box. 

Nothing about the game warranted a 6 hour play through, but something about the off white motel walls and too loud heater built a bubble around them. A place where time flowed too slow and too fast all at once. Just them and a worn deck laid out on overly starched floral patterned comforters and surrounded by an air of transitivity. Nothing stayed here, the dust of past travelers draped across every surface, constantly covered with someone new. 

“It was the best place in the world. I still think back on it when I'm down.” Mark’s voice was soft and far away. Jack’s gaze on him felt warm and soothing. Pairing up his cards, he described the forest behind his childhood home. The process had already gone on for five minutes too long, but Jack wasn't commenting. 

“My brother and I spent whole years back there it felt like. Climbing trees and racing each other. I bet I'd still know every single little path way if I ever went back there.” He glanced up and locked eyes with Jack, who smiled, nodded and seemed to be right in the memory with him. 

“I bet you'd love it. I could show you the one massive pine tree out further then we were ever supposed to go. It was the perfect one for climbing, it had branches almost touching the ground. And Thomas he’d,” Mark’s smile brightened. “Well, he would drape ropes over the taller ones and loop buckets on the bottom. We'd put all the random shit we found in them and then pull them up to hide at the top. Like some fucking squirrels.” 

Jack laughed, quiet and soft, eyes crinkled and bright. 

“I wonder if anyone else ever found it. Just a bunch of rocks and weird garbage. They’d probably be positive some crazy animal did it.” Mark glanced down at his hand again, shifting a 3 he hadn't noticed in with the others. 

“Sounds like an awesome place.” Jack hadn't looked away from Mark the entire time, cards tucked under his leg and forgotten. “I love the outdoors, far away and all separate from the rest of the world.”

Jack's eyes went out of focus, still on Mark but seeing through him now. It was Mark's turn to listen and he transitioned into the role without pause, nodding at Jack to continue.

“My parents moved into this cabin out in the absolute middle of nowhere. I got to live there for a while before I ran off to school. It was so quiet and yet everything seemed so loud. The wind and the birds and the crickets, they'd talk your ears off.” Jack grinned and Mark smiled back, eyes still fixed on each other but both seeing something far away from that motel room. 

“The best thing in the world is goin’ out in the middle of the night. I saw places that came close, that were dark enough to let all the stars through. But, they've never been able to beat sitting outside in the middle of the night, right after the rain clouds leave. You'd never even know there were that many stars out there.” 

A silence filled the room, all warm and soothing. The sound of footsteps above them and the hum of the heater distant in the background. They sat like that for a while, as the moment stretched and thinned. Both stepped out together when it grew small enough to leave. 

“Have any 3s?” Jack asked as he pulled up his cards, tone shifted and eyes clear. 

Mark groaned, before handing over three he'd just finished packing together. “Cheet.” 

“I'm nothing of the sort.” Jack replied, grin mischievous and proud. 

They continued like that, competing and swapping stories. All lighter and funnier than the last. 

When they finally laid down at 3 am, Mark waited until his eyes were heavy and unable to open before whispering, “I love the stars.” 

Minutes past as he slipped further into his subconscious, but just before he completely dropped, he heard a gentle, “Me too.”

XXX

“Eat rocks fuck face.” Jack yelled, much too loud for the public setting. Mark didn't have time to look around and see if it offended anyone, too busy dodging a roundhouse kick and power move combo from the loud Irishmen next to him. As it turned out though, he really should have just looked up instead of button smashing. 

“Ooooh screw you ass wipe!” Mark whined in a high pitched squeak as the move’s video played out on the small arcade game screen. Jack laughed maniacally next to him. 

They'd found a dinky bowling alley and arcade in Champaign when they'd pulled off for lunch an hour outside Kankakee. After waking up so late they'd decided to make it out as far as they could before stopping. They'd driven around the city for a good twenty minutes, both too hungry to make decisions regarding food. When Jack had jumped halfway out of the car to point at the arcade sign, Mark didn't think before pulling into its parking lot. 

Dropping more cash than necessary, they each bought an order of super nachos and enough coins to last much longer than they wanted to stop. 

Three hours and another 5 bucks on a pretzel to share went by before they'd realized. Mark's character lost its last life with that move, so he reached in his pocket for more coins. Stopping when he realized he only had one left. The words on the screen mocked him, ‘game over: two credits to continue’.

“Well Jack, you win this time.” Mark said with a sigh, placing his single coin down on the machine dejectedly.

“Oh man, out already?” Jack looked genuinely upset about it. He frowned at Mark for a moment before suddenly reaching into his own pocket. “Maybe I still have one you can-” Jack cut off and his dejected expression returned as he pulled his hand out, empty. 

“Well we had a good time well it lasted.” Smiling and patting Jack on the back, Mark turned them to head back towards the entrance. He left the coin for the next players. “Besides we were only suppose to stop for a little bit. Not how ever long it's been now.”

Jack looked around before spotting an old analog clock above one of the air hockey tables. He grimaced at it and whistled. “It did not feel like three and a half hours.”

“It’s really been that long?” Mark asked incredulously, looking over at the clock himself to double check. He sighed, sliding his hand up from where it rested on Jack’s upper back to drape over his shoulder. “Let’s get back in the car. We are never gonna get anywhere at this rate.”

“It’s not my fault you kept trying to win at go fish last night. I wanted to go to bed at midnight, but no poor baby Mark couldn’t go to sleep before winning at least once.” Mark grumbled under his breath, but didn't comment. Jack pushed the tinted double glass door open, squinting and backing into Mark a bit as they were met by a much too bright sun. 

“I hate how dark they make these places. It’s like getting out of a daytime movie.” Mark complained, half covering his face with his free hand. Jack nodded in agreement as they made their way to the car. 

It took some conscious effort for Mark to pull his arm off of Jack in a way he hoped wasn’t too awkward. It left him with a weird taste in his mouth and a very cold feeling on his arm.

“We still have a good thirteen hours to Dallas.” Jack commented as he sat down in the passenger seat and pulled their Mapquest directions out of the glove box. After their struggle getting to Chicago, they’d stopped by a little internet cafe and printed some off so Jack wouldn't get them lost again. 

“I didn’t really think we’d make it in one day. We’ll just stop somewhere on the way.”

XXX

The entirety of interstate 57 was under construction. At least it sure seemed that way. Three hours into the drive and Mark was pretty sure his foot had fused onto the brake pedal. 

“Maybe we should just get out walk. Abandon the car and make a new life in the forest.” Jack said from his spot laid out in the back seat, and dropping popcorn in his mouth from various distances. Most pieces ended up on his shirt or the car floor.

“I don't think I'll be able to walk anymore. My ankle hurts so bad, I'm pretty sure it's broken.” Mark whined as he leaned forward to rub his right leg. 

“I'll carry you.” Jack replied with a grin, meeting Mark's eyes in the rear view mirror. 

“And then you'll have a broken back and I'll have a broken leg. Our forest life will be off to a great start.” Mark rolled his eyes as Jack laughed at the idea. 

“A couple of gimps livin’ in trees and eating bugs and mushrooms.” Continuing his game of popcorn drop, Jack propped his bare feet up against the back passenger window. 

“Nothing like hallucinations to help heal broken bones.” They both laughed. 

A few more break checks and a semi getting over in front of them later and Mark was just about ready to chop his own feet off. Laying his head back on his seat, Mark closed his eyes and kept the car stopped until he heard a honk behind him. 

“I really wish you could drive.” He told Jack. 

“I could try.” Sitting up and dumping all his failed attempts on the already popcorn soaked floor, Jack made a move to crawl out of the back seats. 

“What?” Mark asked incredulously, watching Jack finagle his way into the passenger seat with furrowed brows and wide eyes. 

“You wanted to teach me, why not do it now? I know how the pedals work and we're only going like no speed at all. Give your broken legs a rest.” Jack was still barefoot and he'd left his hat in the back seat along with the black hoodie he usually had on. He seemed younger and softer than Mark had yet to see him. If it weren't for the jeans Mark would think he was ready for bed.

“A crowded highway isn't really the best place to teach someone how to drive!” Mark complained in a high pitch voice that seemed to only convince Jack of his exhaustion. 

“Come on, slap her into park and go sit in the back. Stretch your legs out a bit.” Jack grinned all crinkly and bright. Mark wanted to do something. He didn't really think that something was handing over his car to a tiny kid with no license, but the urge to move was getting to him. 

“Fine.” Mark grumbled after a minuted, ignoring Jack’s fist pump and climbed over the middle console. 

He hit his head twice and made a crunching sound with his shoes as he stepped on the piles of popcorn collected on the seats. “What did you do back here, bathe in food?”

“Oh hush up dad, I'll clean it when we get where we’re goin’” Jack replied with a wave of his hand as he somehow gracefully clambered into the driver's seat. He settled down, even buckled up after glancing at Mark in the mirror, before glancing around and frowning. “Now what does this ‘PRND’ thing do?”

“Jack-” Mark yelled, leaning forward from the middle seat and poking his head out between the front two. He glowered at Jack as the smaller man cut him off with a overly loud laugh. 

“Come on goober! Of course I know what a gear shift is!” Mark slumped back and pouted while Jack continued to laugh until the SUV behind them honked again. 

Smoothly, Jack pulled the car out of park and eased up on the brakes, rolling the car forward and back into line. 

“Not bad.” Mark commented from the back seat, still sat in the middle, tense. 

“I told you I've done it a few times before, just not enough to be considered fluent in driving.” Jack settled back and got comfortable.

It took Mark a good ten minutes to stop back seat driving and trust that Jack was actually capable of riding the brake and steering in a straight line. When he finally turned sideways to prop his legs up he let out a moan as his ankle popped. “Good lord that feels better. Thanks, Jack.” 

The Irishman glanced back at Mark in the mirror, quickly looking away and turning up the volume of the radio with a quick nod. 

XXX

It took another two hours to get through the traffic and they’d switched back when they saw the end of the cones that had bottlenecked traffic for a good day 75 miles. Both of them were stiff and grouchy. Even though Mark had gotten a nice break, even took himself a 20 minute nap, his legs were begging to get out and stretch. The day had grown dark around them and the lack of sunlight was only making the urge to doze worse.

“Let’s stop in Sikeston.” Jack called from next to him, somehow reading his mind. The passenger didn’t seem to be faring much better than Mark, eyes droopy and head rested against the cool glass of his window. 

“Good idea.” Mark managed. He really didn’t mind driving, could probably stay seated in a car for an entire day if need be. Traffic however, drained the very life out of him. 

Sikeston was like anywhere else in Missouri, all open and wide with buildings that looked more like cargo crates than grocery stores. They passed an outlet mall made of a mixture of concrete and storm shutters. One street had two different flower shops and a tattoo parlor on it. Jack found it much funnier than he needed, making a vague comment about a love story waiting to happen when Mark shot him a weird look. 

Their real target though was an Arby’s they saw marked on the stop’s services list. When they stepped out of the car in it’s parking lot, Mark nearly fell over from how wobbly his legs were. His right one in particular felt about as sturdy as a bucket of jello. 

“I feel like we’ve been in there for ten years.” Jack groaned as he cracked his back and shook his legs back to life. 

“Tell me about it. I thought we were gonna live the rest of our lives on that highway.” Mark rolled his neck and did a rendition of the upright worm before yawning and heading towards the entrance. Jack laughed as he followed.

Sitting down again should have been the last thing on either of their minds. Yet when they plopped down after placing their order, Mark couldn’t help but sigh happily. He spread his arms across the back of the booth and kicked his feet out in either direction like some oddly proportioned starfish. 

“Comfy there Markimoo?” Jack was grinning with one of his eyebrows raised, not really judging but not entirely unquestioning. He slid in across from Mark, less draped out as his friend, but happy to toss an arm behind him and rest the other across the table. 

“Vinyl has never felt so wonderful. I’m gonna redo my entire wardrobe in this stuff.” Stroking across the top of his seat, Mark made a content sound in the back of his throat and smiled over at Jack. 

“Good lord, please do.” A snort. 

They ate slowly, recounting tidbits of their high school experiences. When Jack found out Mark played in the band he cackled so loud half the dining room stared them down. He even thanked the sky for allowing him the chance to meet such a huge nerd that was his friend Mark. Unable to stay angry after being called Jack’s friend, Mark just laughed along and agreed that he was in fact a king among nerds.

It later came out that Jack had played the drums, but he insisted that since he played in a garage band instead of a school sanctioned one it made him cool instead of geeky. 

When they agreed hanging out for more than an hour would really overstay their welcome, they went back to the car and set out for some lodging. Happily a little off brand motel was offering a special 35 a night price, so they pulled in there. 

“We made it nearly half way today, we could get there tomorrow no problem.” Jack told Mark during a round of Slapjack when Mark started complaining about how much time they wasted in stop and go traffic. Mark slapped the deck just after placing down a card and Jack groaned as Mark pulled the pile into his hand. 

“Maybe.” Mark grinned at his friends dejected face and gestured for Jack to continue the game. 

XXX

It took them another two days to reach Dallas. Sikeston proved just as unlucky as Kankakee when they gott the gift of another late morning. To be fair, this time it wasn’t the card game that kept them up. Instead it was a couple above them, that apparently were on the verge of murder the entire night, screaming at each other in what sounded like a mixture of German and Spanish, but was probably Italian muffled by the walls. 

Jack had sat up and pulled his computer out to get some work done around 2 am and Mark gave up on forcing sleep and grabbed his, for the first time that trip, around 2:30. He didn’t check any social media or emails, instead plugging his headphones in and using some Game Grump videos to distract him. 

When the amazingly late checkout of 1pm rolled around, they'd only just barely gotten themselves together enough to leave the room. Grabbing some fast food to prevent stopping an hour in like the day before, they hit the interstate. 

XXX

“Nevada!” Jack yelled as he punched Mark hard enough in the thigh to likely leave a bruise. 

“Ow! What the fuck Jack?!” Cringing away and moving one hand off the wheel to rub the now tender spot, he glared at Jack. 

“I saw a car with a Nevada license plate.” The shit eating grin Mark got made him want to open Jack’s door and push him out. 

“I got that. Why did you have to hit me so hard though?” Mark was still rubbing his leg, done glaring and moved on to pouting. 

“It’s not fun if it doesn’t hurt.” Jack replied with a shrug and the murder Mark was planning sounded better and better every second. 

“How the hell do you even know about that game? You’re not even from here!” Although Mark knew he would have done the exact same thing to Jack if he’d noticed the car, he couldn’t help but want to be antagonistic.

“That’s racist!” Jack replied with a laugh while Mark just shook his head. “And I’ve been here for nearly three years now, I was bound to pick up on something!”

“You were only here for a year before you started hitchhiking?” The words came out before Mark realized the fine line they would walk. Jack’s smile slipped into something fake as he glanced down and then away, fixed on the scenery passing by. 

“Yeah.” It was quiet and Mark wanted to kick himself in the face with a chair. They’d done a good job of ignoring their elephants the past two days and now there was Mark pointing out all these huge grey things in the car with them. 

He let the silence drag on for probably too long before jumping subjects like a cowardly captain of a sinking ship.

“You know what car game we should play?” Mark forced his voice to sound cheerful, happy that Jack just turned with a forced smile of his own instead of commenting.

“What that?” 

“20 questions!” Mark voice sounded a bit less synthetic and Jack’s smile started approaching normal. 

“Since when is that a driving game?” Jack asked with a raised brow and crossed arms. 

“Since it was something I am able to play while paying enough attention to the road that I don’t kill us.” Mark felt lighter when that got a laugh out of Jack.   
“Okay, then you think of something first.” Jack gestured with an open hand for Mark to begin. 

“Will do.” Mark pretended to thinking extra hard, scratching his chin for added effect as Jack shook his head. “Got it.”

“Okay, person, place or thing?” Jack asked. 

“Thing.”

“Can I touch it?” 

“Um, you can touch anything is you really want to.” Mark shot back, giving Jack a look that said he was a special kind of odd. 

“Oh shut up, I ment, like. It’s an actually, like, tangible thing. Not some dumb shit like love or happiness or anything like that right?” Jack argued, waving his arms around to apparently help express his question better. 

“Oh okay. Yeah it’s, like, a real thing.” He put emphasis on like and got a shove for his trouble. 

“Thanks. So, like, is it something in this, like, car?” Mark laughed and Jack joined in. 

“Technically, yes.” 

“What do you mean, technically?” Furrowed eyebrows. 

“Well I just don’t want you getting too off track. It’s technically in the car, but it isn’t something that exists solely in this car. You get me?” Mark took too long looking a Jack during his explanation and was rewarded with the rumble strip growling at him. Jack’s look told him to pay more attention and he shifted to face forward more. 

“Um, sure.” Jack didn’t sound very sure, but continued the game anyways. 

“Next question then?”

“It is bigger than a car?” Mark’s face contorted and he whined a bit in the back of his throat, tilting his head in thought. Jack sighed, fully aware that this was going to be one long round.

Nearly twenty minutes later and Jack still hadn’t gotten any bit closer to figuring out what the damn thing was. Mark had told him it started with an e and that it itself couldn’t be purchased at a walmart but something with it stored inside of it could. He’d said that it wasn’t man made and that he used it almost every single day. It could be created, but also happened naturally. It had something to do with rain, but was very bad to mix with water. Jack argued it was probably something stupid Mark made up in his head and that he was never going to guess it. 

“Okay, fine fine. I give up. What the hell is it?” Jack whined, giving in to Mark’s near constant insistence that he would still let Jack go next if he gave up. 

“Are you sure? I’ll get a point if you do.” Marked asked, grinning and knowing he was already triumphant. 

“Yes I am fucking sure, just tell me what it is!” Jack threw his hand in the air and closed his eyes. 

“The answer is electricity.” Jack didn’t even look over to see Mark absolutely beaming at his own cleverness. The laugh bubbled bigger and bigger in Mark’s stomach as Jack groaned and wiped his hand over his face. 

“Oh you absolute dick.”

Mark guessed Jack’s toenail clippers in about ten minutes, but Jack got Mark’s blueberry pancakes in five. They got through bluetooth, floss and sunflower seeds before getting distracted by Arkansas’ absolutely stunning supply of bizarre billboard signs. The spent the next two hours of the ride discussing and rating the signs as if they were the hosts for some dog show-esque awards ceremony. 

It hit seven before they decided some food outside of Jack’s left over popcorn and nuts would be nice and started looking for a suitable stop. They pulled off on the Caddo Valley exist, but only used it to switch to highway 7. They did this for the wonderful sign pointing them towards De Grey Lake. Mark wanted to blame it on Jack, but really he was the one that pointed to the sign and started talking in a shit french accent about how beautifully grey the magnificent lake was. 

The road was mostly empty and it took a good five minutes on highway 7 before they saw anything signifying they didn’t just turn start driving into the wilderness. 

“Cracker Barrel!” Mark called out and pointed when he noticed the logo on the sign for the next exit. Jack shrugged and didn’t complain, so Mark happily pulled off and drove around. They somehow ended up on the other side of interstate 40, fifteen minutes later, but saw the old man in his wicker chair off in the distance so declared it a success. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever eaten here before.” Jack commented as they got out of their car, getting a horror filled look from Mark.

“What a sad life you live, my friend.” Shaking his head, Mark faked a sniffle and patted Jack’s back in mock comfort. “This place is so cool. You’ve missed out.”

Jack just snorted and let Mark push him towards the doors. The place wasn’t too busy, but they were given a fifteen minute estimate. Jack smiled at the news and followed Mark as he led them through the strange souvenir shop in the front. Mark found a superhero themed extra large checker set that Jack told him was proof people had too much time on their hands. Jack pulled Mark over to a talking stuffed toucan singing in a southern accent about mash potatoes. They listened to the entire song in fascination, giggling like kids when it abruptly ended. While they took turns smelling a surprisingly large selection of mason jar candles Mark’s name was called.

The seating was really just a continuation of the shop, all over decorated and wooden. Mark beamed as he watched Jack take it all in. He’d always really loved this restaurant and was weirdly happy to be the one showing it to Jack for the first time. 

“I got to admit, this place it kind of cool. Weird, but cool.” Jack said when the waitress left to get them Jack’s water and Mark’s sweet tea. 

“I know right. I love this place. And this is my favorite part.” Mark slid a wooden triangle over in front of them with a grin. 

“What’s that then?” 

Mark explained the rules and played a round with Jack where he won easily. However, Jack caught on quick and beat Mark in two rounds before the waitress came back and took their food orders. 

The nice long dinner ended with Jack stealing the check from Mark and practically throwing it at the poor server to prevent Mark from paying again. He even hit Mark on the way out when he tried to complain about it. 

XXX

“There is seriously just a resort and some cabins.” Mark complained as they drove around the grey lake. It wasn’t actually more black due to the time of day, but Mark was happy to take the word of the signs and believe it was grey in the daylight. 

“Just keep going. I bet there’ll be somewhere we can park and sit out for a bit.” Waving Mark off, Jack leaned forward in his seat and looked around the space in front of them for a turn off. A couple minutes later, he pointed at a gravel road for Mark to take. To the driver's surprise, it actually did lead them up to a little deserted clearing along the side of DeGrey lake. Mark parked the car and switched off the lights just in time for Jack to hop out and half sprint up to the edge of the water. 

“What are you so excited for?” With a laugh, Mark got out and walked up to where Jack stood. 

“Look up,” Was the only response he got and with a quirked brow he obeyed. 

“Oh.” Stars. They were unbelievably bright and seemed to cover the entire sky in a hazy glow. They were far enough out from any real light pollution, the nearest source was a good twenty miles back where they came from. It put the sky they slept under back in Mackinaw to shame. 

For several minutes they stood necks bent and eyes scanning the blanket of light above them. Mark tried to remember the stories Jack had told him a few days prior about the heroes of mythology each grouping was named after, smiling when he found a few consolations he knew the tales for. 

“Not quite Ireland, but this is the best I’ve seen since that farm I stayed at.” Jack hummed, shifting his focus out onto the still waters. Mark joined him, smiling growing as he noticed the reflection of some of the brighter dots floating across the gentle waves of the lake’s surface. 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Mark was glad Jack told him to keep looking for a place to park. This was the best place they’d seen so far and he almost wished they would have no reason to leave it. 

“Yeah.” Jack was looking at Mark with a blank expression when he turned to face the shorter man. Before Mark would think on it though, he grinned brightly at him and turned to go back to their car. 

“Where are you going?” Mark called after shaking his head to stop focusing on the empty air where Jack had been.

“If we park the car a little closer we could lay out of the roof and still see everything.” Jack answered, already opening the driver door and starting the engine with the keys Mark had left on the middle consul. 

“You want to sleep on my car?!” Mark half yelled to be heard over the engine as the sonata slowly eased closer and closer to him. Just before Mark was about to make Jack stop, he put the vehicle into park and stepped out. 

“Yep. It’s not any colder here than it was in Mackinaw. If we put some blankets down I’m sure it’d be super comfy.” Already bending back into the front seat to hit the trunk button, Jack finally answered Mark’s question. 

“I don’t know if that’s really such a good idea.” Despite his protest, Mark was walking to the trunk to help Jack pull their extra blankets out. 

“Mark, absolutely nothing we’ve done all week has been a good idea. Just go with it.” Mark really wanted to continue his protest. He wanted to point out that although cars were built sturdy, the roof wasn’t really built with two grown men sleeping on it in mind. He wanted to bring up the possibility that their parking spot likely wasn’t sanctioned by the rangers running this state park. He wanted to say the car was too close to the water, that sleeping outside when several good motels were within a thirty minute drive was silly or that it wasn’t going to be very roomy up there with the two of them. 

Instead, he took the three blankets Jack passed him and went back around towards the front to climb on. It was tricky, especially before he had the state of mind to toss the blankets up before him, but he got up and put down the layers of blankets as padding soon enough.

Jack threw him four more blankets and two pillows he stole from the motel in Kankakee and took off his pants before climbing on. When Mark opened his mind to comment, Jack just told him that no one like’s sleeping in jeans. A moment of thought later, Mark awkwardly shimmied his off while staying seated on a surface that groaned at every movement. 

Once up, Jack took two of the covers and wrapped them around himself, positioned his pillow and laid back with his hands tucked under his head. Mark followed his lead, his hand knotted together on his chest and head propped up on a folded pillow. 

“See, bad ideas are the best kind.” The view was even better from their position up on the roof, but Mark was looking at Jack. The other’s eyes shimmered with the reflection of the night sky, crinkled at the edges from the small smile he wore. 

“I completely agree.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all soo soo much for all the feedback it means so much. Look out for a one shot I'm putting out sometime in the next two days. Love you guys!


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